March 21, 2007 | Filed under: get meta with me!
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Steven Bochco, acclaimed producer of Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue has decided to make a foray into online video. I find his ideas regarding video on the internet (and internet use in general) a little off-putting.
A distraction? Steve, I’m hurt. I agree that the internet can be distracting, sure, but to characterize the intercommunicative juggernaut that is The Internet as just something that can keep you from getting bored between scooping out the cat box and waiting for your dinner to pop out of the microwave is a little sad. You have saddened me, Steve. So what’s he offering the new web 2.0 world? Confessions. Terrific.
Hmmm…okay. I’m listening.What else?
Well, that’s certainly true.
I suppose I should be happy that a TV bigwig is joining the internet video world with a concept that doesn’t (quite) attempt to copy television–there’s enough of that already. But still, it doesn’t sit right with me. I want more, I want different, I want better.
I think Steven Bochco can do better.
March 21, 2007
@ 6:50 pm
Ya done good. I think the one person who ought to see the response won’t cuz he is probably on YT watching the Shakira clones and feeling good about his idea.
I liked Cop Rock too. Hey, here is what Steven should do. Snip three minutes of each music number and do a retrospective look at Cop Rock in song.
You know, he needs to be intellectually spanked. I mean that in a good way. Wait, he is married and his wife may not go for that.
I gotta think on this.
March 21, 2007
@ 8:42 pm
I agree with your main point, but what I think you are missing is the fact that without someone, like Bocho, the idea/show/actual videos wold never be seen by many people.
The one problem with the WWW is the vastness of it all. Endevours like Bochco’s, even though the “production” of it all does take away from some of the “emotional” value of the confessionals, it will reach a far wider audience and thus it’s impact will be greater.
Sorry for the essay ;o)
March 21, 2007
@ 9:29 pm
Excellent job! I find it interesting that web cam confessionals took 10 years to come to fruition. That’s some power thinking there.
March 21, 2007
@ 9:40 pm
you had pretty much the same reaction I did. so, you must be right.
anyway, maybe this will get more folks using rss . . . that would be good.
cheers
rob
March 21, 2007
@ 10:12 pm
Yes! RSS puts the power in people’s hands! You can never have too much RSS
March 22, 2007
@ 8:39 am
Hill Street Blues was one of the best shows EVER!
Remember how so many big stars ended up on the Love Boat? Well, maybe this is Steven Bochco’s Love Boat?! Poor guy!
March 22, 2007
@ 8:44 am
Ugh. What a frustrating minimization of what it is that we pour our hearts into day in and day out.
Then again, television was going to be only a fad, no?
March 22, 2007
@ 4:22 pm
It’s like she’s saying what I’m thinking!
http://urltea.com/19k?bochco
Right on, sister.
March 22, 2007
@ 4:37 pm
Loved your portrayal of a confessional. You’re a good performer. And you’re analysis is very good.
March 22, 2007
@ 5:03 pm
Love this video, love the sarcasm, love the thoughts, love your point, love you!
March 23, 2007
@ 7:05 pm
Hey you made me think! Alright, that’s good! BTW, how’s things going? Sorry for not responding all the time … or should I say “commenting.” Haha, I’m as bad as Steven Bosco. Yeah, need to get back in to the vlogosphere again.
Anyway, I hear responses all the time like Steven Bosco from the older professors I work with. It’s like they’ve discovered something new that tons of us know already about in regards to video.
I’ll try to write back more often. Have a great week!
Luv ya,
Becca
http://beccavlog.blogspot.com
March 24, 2007
@ 6:24 pm
The dumbest part about it is that it’s being passed off as authentic, when it really isn’t.
First, we’re asked to believe that the people telling the stories are telling the truth, or perhaps that they’re not actors that heard that there was this thing going on that they needed to get involved with.
Assuming you’re willing to believe their stories, the next filter is the associate producers that are sent out to get this footage get to SELECT which ones they think are good.
The third level is where Bochco sits down with the pre-selected stories from the supposedly authentic people that just decided to go to the mall and spill the beans about their personal lives. Once he chooses from that lot, those are the ones that make it to the series.
Merely by the nature of the process, the clips are ‘inauthentic’, because they only represent the chosen few out of what they really got. The “art” is in the selecting, not the acting.
You can film 80 dogs in a week, and if 5 of them happen to do a trick while your camera’s running, you have a show…….
March 25, 2007
@ 3:36 pm
Miss B. I love ‘ya. You make so many good points here. I love the internet, too. So much creativity. Hell, my life as a nurse has no room for BS reality TV…I’ve got it all in my day-to-day and with the net, well, I find people to connect with that I’m missing in my little geographic limits here in KS. I do think, though, that we’ve got this new reality and we’ve nailed who we are as people, emotionally. But how do we move beyond our self centeredness and make better use of the power of connection?
March 28, 2007
@ 11:15 pm
MissB, you are so interesting to me. We watch you on our big screen when we have vlog watching nights. I am glad there are vloggers like you to keep me, and all the other people who refuse to own a television, entertained. Such life-sucking devices, and they give me nothing back, I know, not everyone feels that way, but I say, if someone wants me to watch something, get it online, where it belongs(I guess DVD’s are alright, too.)
March 29, 2007
@ 4:37 pm
My sides are splitting stop it !
April 4, 2007
@ 8:30 pm
I feel provoked.
Bochco isn’t looking to do art. He wants to sell something to as many people as possible using the lowest common denominator of human experience as a vehicle. Whether it’s cat food, raincoats or used elephant sperm doesn’t matter as long as the dump trucks of money keep coming and he can sell it to a network.
Even if it fails he will be lauded as a creative genius who is pushing the limits of TV. First it was a good, realistic cop show, then one set to music and finally NYPD Blue, which was the first show on network TV to use the term “asshole” in the script. Now it’s internet video and confessionals.
What a putz.
Cop rock sucked but at least it rocked as it sucked.
April 8, 2007
@ 6:41 am
I admire people with the cajones to think that they “get it” and to proceed full steam ahead with their ideas despite any criticism. But in Steven Bochco’s case, I suspect he might be surrounded by yes men who either don’t have opinions of their own or won’t dare to contradict him. All in all, he sounds very old and out of touch, and he can be safely ignored.